Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) announced on Tuesday that China is suing him for $50 billion in retaliation against him for a $24 billion lawsuit he won against the communist country for “hoarding” personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schmitt emphasized that he “won’t be intimidated” and “won’t be apologizing” to China.

“I was just targeted and sued by Communist China in a $50 Billion Lawfare campaign—retaliation against me for winning a $24 Billion judgment against China for hoarding PPE during COVID,” Schmitt said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “This baseless, meritless lawfare is unprecedented. I’m fighting it with everything I’ve got.

The Republican senator explained that he filed “Schmitt v. the People’s Republic of China” in April of 2020 while serving as Missouri’s attorney general to expose China for its “hoarding of PPE” and for “lying to the international community.”

Fox News reported that Schmitt told “The Ingraham Angle” that China’s retaliatory lawsuit against him is “totally ridiculous.”

“They’re just mad that we exposed their lies and their deceit,” Schmitt said. “Missouri got a $24 billion judgment against them, and they don’t like that. They unleashed COVID on the world. We sued them, and we won.” 

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According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Fox News, the People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are currently suing the Republican senator for approximately $50 billion. The outlet noted that the lawsuit accuses Schmitt, the state of Missouri, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey of damaging the reputations of Wuhan, China, and China’s research facilities by “malicious vexatious litigation, fabricating enormous disinformation, and spreading stigmatizing and discriminating slanders.”

In another statement on social media, Schmitt claimed that China’s lawsuit against him is a way of “distracting” from the fact that “China created and covered up COVID.”

In response to China’s lawsuit against him, Schmitt told Fox News, “I won’t be apologizing any time soon, as you’d imagine.”

Sharing the Fox News article about the lawsuit in a post on X, Schmitt tweeted, “As Missouri AG, I sued China for unleashing the COVID pandemic and hoarding PPE. Now, they are targeting me in a $50 billion lawfare campaign because they’re mad I won. But I’m from the Show Me State, I will not apologize and will not back down. Bring it on.”